Decorative aluminum product



June 21, 1 960 H. A. FROMSON DECORATIVE ALUMINUM PRODUCT Filed Jan. 21, 1955 Tlcrl.

INVENTOR //o WARD ,4. FAOM so/v TTORNEYS DECORATIVE ALUMINUM PRooUcr Howard A. Fromson, Rogues Ridge Road, Weston, Conn. Filed Jan. 21, 1955, Ser. No. 483,232 Claims. (Cl. 29 19s This invention relates to the art of making rolled or extruded products, of aluminum or aluminum alloys, having surfaces rendered decorative by reason of the fact that different portions of them reflect light dilferently, giving a novel and pleasing effect. The uses to which the material having such surfaces can be put are numerous. As illustrative, it. may be mentioned that the invention is useful in making the material from which decorative trim and articles of jewelry can be fabricated;

atthe other extreme, the product of the invention can a take the form of large ornamental panels suitable for use in the building trades.

One method of making the product involves preselecting, say, two pieces of aluminum of different composition, that is, different in the unatter of light-reflectivity after anodizing. One of the pieces, of lesser area than the other and of any desired shape or pattern, is then metallur-gically bonded to the other so as-to produce a smooth composite surface exhibiting both pieces. That composite surface is then anodized, the'latter step serving to bring out the different reflectivities of the two pieces. In the bonding of the one piece to'the other, the preferred method is-to use a" thinner piece for the piece of lesser area and embed it in the other or base piece by rolling, whereby a smooth composite surface is readily obtained.

In the accompanying drawings, 'Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a form of the invention in one stage of production; and j Fig. 2 is a similar, broken out view of the finished state of the same form.

As will be understood, thedecorative effects are almost limitless in that the piece of lesser area (referred to herein as the pattern piece) can be of any conceivable outline and, of course, any number of such pieces can be bonded tothe lar-gerpiece. Also, the surface treatment and finish "can bevan'ed considerably by'color and otherwise, according to the particular eifect desired and the following more detailed description is to be understood as being illustrative. of preferred, advantageous procedures.

As is well known, what is sold commercially as aluminum contains one or more impurities; also, of course, numerous aluminum alloys .areavailable, and the present invention makes .use of .the fact that the light reflectivity of these various aluminum productsQafteranodizing, varies according to. the composition. -In general, the higher the percentage of aluminum, the greaterthe refle'ctivity 'of the anodized surface, although it has been found that there is an outstanding exception to this generality in that the degree of reflectivity is'not affected substantially by the presence'of-ma'gnesium. Thus, a composition consisting of 98% aluminum and 2% magnesium is found to have a somewhat higher degree of reflectivity, after anodizing, than one containing 99% aluminum and 1% copper. Any of the other elements, however, such as silicon, manganese, iron, can be present as so-called impurities or alloying agents in the alumi- United States Patent-O 99.99% pure. perature of GOO-700 F. and then hot rolled. A single Patented June 21, 1960 2 num andare useful for the purposes of the invention;- For an extremely high degree of light reflectivity after anodizing, aluminum which is 99.99% pure is com-- mercially available.

For economys sake, the larger or base piece of alumi-- num is preferably the one having the lower or lowest degree of reflectivity, that is, having the lower or lowestv aluminum content but where the cost is not material or the difference is not substantial, the arrangement can, of" course, be reversed.

The bonding of the pattern piece or pieces to the base is preferably effected at the mill, where the base stock: is available in slab or billet form and where after the pieces have beenbonded to form a unit, they can be: rolled or extruded to final or more nearly final form. For convenience herein, rolling or extruding are referred! to as mechanical reducing operations. The pattern: pieces do not need to be of sheet form. For example,2. short lengths of rod or wire of the one selected aluminum, and in a desired pattern arrangement can be pressed into; a hot slab of the other selected composition and there after the resulting unit mechanically reduced to its desired final thickness, as by rolling; or, if such pattern: pieces are pressed into an extrusion billet and the composite thereafter reduced by extrusion, the finished prodinot will exhibit more or less marble-like effects, due fo the flow of the pattern pieces. The extruded product: may thereafter be cold drawn, depending upon the con:- templated end use. I

The composite stock may then be cleaned, as by wash-- ing with an alkaline solution, brushing or the like, as may be necessary, and/or treated in a standard brightem ing bath. I The composite surface is then anodized and sealed by any standard sealing method. As stated above, the anodizing brings out the different light reflectivities of the different compositions and also, as will be understood, the sealed oxide coating serves to make the surface durable.

It has also been discovered that, for certain uses, partic-ularly effective results can be achieved by dyeing the anodized surface. Gold and other metallic shades give particularly striking effects. The dye can be sealed in the coating by immersing the article in a standard sea-ling solution.

The following alternative procedure for the production i; of an ornamental panel is further illustrative.

Referring to the drawings, a slab 1 of what is known in the trade as 28 aluminum alloy can be used for the base piece and itmay he, say, 4 thick, 24" wide and; 48" long. It will be assumed that the pattern is to, consist of two strips extending from end to end of the; wide face of the base piece. In that face of the slab, in: this instance, two spaced recesses or grooves 2, 3 are. milled, say, 2" wide and /3" deep. The grooved surface is then cleaned, asby brushing, and into the grooves are fitted two strips 4, 5 of high purity aluminum, say,

Thevcompositeslab is heated to a tempass effects a metallurgicalbond between the components. By continued hot rolling, the 24" slab is brought to a thickness of say, A" and a lengthof 64'. Thereafter it can be cold rolled to reduce it tothe desired final thickness, which may be ofthe order of .032". Out to appropriate panel lengths, the product is then treated in any-suitable commercialbrightening bath. The panel isthen rinsed, an od-ized, rinsed, dyed, rinsed and sealed. In the result, there is produced a panel 6 (Fig. 2) of which the original base piece surfaces 7 exhibit reflectivity of the order of 60% of that of a silvered mirror and the stripes 8 exhibit reflectivity of the order of The effect is highly ornamental.

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Wherever in the specification or claims, reference is made to the fact that the pattern piece is of lesser area than the base piece, it will be understood that the intended comparison is between the areas of the pieces before the one is superimposed upon the other and. bonded to it. In other words, it be clear that of thefinished composite surface, the area of the base piece which remains exposed might be of lesser area than the exposed surface of the pattern piece 'or pieces.

Essentially the same effect can be achieved also by bonding layers having different light reflectivity after anodizing, as described, but of the same area After bonding, the resulting composite pieceis reduced to desired thickness, as before, and then, by etching or machining away portions of one of the layers, a composite surface is created which, when anodized exhibits the same type of decorative surface efiect.

In applying this method, it is preferable toreduce the composite piece to a thickness not exceeding, say, one eighth of an inch. The thinner component of the compositepiece can thus be reduced to thickness of nomore than a few thousandths of an inch sov that, when this extremely thin layer is etchedor machined away to provide the desired pattern, the resulting composite surface is still substantially smooth.

It will be understood that,lin applying any of these methods, the anodizing and other finishing steps can be postponed until after the composite material hasbeen shaped or fabricated into end product form.

This is a continuation-in-part of applicants copending application Serial No- 462,412, fi-ledOctober' 15, 1954, now abandoned.

In the light of the foregoing description and exernplification of the principles of theinvention, the following is claimed:

1. The, method of producing a decorative surface which comprises metallurgically bonding to one surface of a first piece of aluminum a pattern piece of aluminum of different composition and lesser, area to form a unit having a smooth, composite surface, the compositions of the two pieces being preselected with reference to their light reflectivity after anodizing and so as to exhibit different reflectivity a-fter anodizing, mechanically reducing thesaid unit and then anodizing and sealing said composite surface.

2. The method of producing a decorative material which comprises metallnrgically bonding to one surface of a first piece of aluminum a pattern piece of aluminum of differentv composition and lesser area to form a unit having a smooth, composite surface, the compositions of the two pieces being preselected with reference to their light reflectivity after anodizing and so as to exhibit difierent reflectivity after anodizing, rolling the unit to a desired finished thickeness, and then anodizing and sealing the said composite surface. 1

3. The method. of producing a. decorative material which comprises metallurgically bonding to one surface of a first piece of aluminum a pattern piece of aluminum of different composition and lesser area-to form a. unit having a smooth, composite surface, the compositions of the two pieces 'being preselected with reference to their light reflectivity after anodizingand so asto exhibit different reflectivity after anodizing, extruding the unit to a desired finished form, and then anodizing. andsea-ling the said composite surface.

4. The method, of. producing, a decorative surface which comprises rolling intothe surface of one piece, of aluminum a pattern piece of aluminum of lesser area and different composition to form a unit having a smooth, composite surface, the composition of the two of aluminum of different composition, the compositions of the two pieces being preselected with reference to their light reflectivity after anodizing and so as to exhibit different reflectivity after anodizing, metallurgcally bonding the pattern piecetothe first pieceto form a unit having a smooth, composite surface, mechanically reducing the unit and then anodizing and sealing said composite surface.

6. The method of, producing adecorative surface which comprises metallurgically bonding to one surface of a first piece. of aluminum apattei n piece of aluminum of different composition and lesser area; toform aunithaving .a smooth, composite surface, the compositions of the twopieces being preseleeted with reference to their light reflectivity after anodizing, andso as to exhibit different reflectivity after anodizing, -mechanically reducing the said unit and then successively anodizing, dyeing and sealing the said compositesurfaee.

7'. The method of producing 'a decorative surface which comprises metallurgically bonding to one surface of a first piece of aluminum a patternpiece of aluminum of reflectivity after anodizing, and then anodizing and sealing said composite surface.

8. An article having a decorativesurface of anodized aluminum, which comprisesat least two pieces of aluminum metallurgically bondedtogether as a unit, one of said pieces forming a base and.extending beneath the other I of said pieces, said :pieces being of difierent compositions and' difierent light reflectivity. when. anodized, said. unit having an anodized composite surface in which portions of bothof the pieces are.visible with the difference in light reflectivity of,,the two. piecesidefining a. pattern on said composite surface.

9. An article having adecorativesurface of anodized aluminum as defined in claim '8wherein'theanodized sur- I face formed by the two piecesis. sealed.

10. An article having a decorative surface of anodized aluminum as defined in claim 8 wherein the anodized 3 surface formed by the two pieces isdyed and sealedp ReferencesCited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES, PATENTS 1,378,501. Wall. May 17, 1921 1,586,927- lllilkinsoncu'u June 1, 1926 1,975,105 Keller "Oct. 2, 1934 2,076,212 Suter Apr. 6, 1937 2,290,364 Tosteraud July 21, 1942 2,619,715 Barr Dec. 2, 1952 2,683,113 Pran'ce; July 6, 1954 2,821,014 Miller Ian. 28, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,956 Great Britain Feb; 15, 1913 OTHER: REFERENCES 

